In "Bethlehem," Israel's submission to the recent Academy Awards for the foreign language Oscar, first-time filmmaker Yuval Adler views entrenched political tensions through the template of a police procedural. Focusing on an Israeli intelligence agent and one of his Palestinian informants, the movie has the taut efficiency of a well-constructed crime thriller, while its real-world underpinnings play out with a less convincing sense of urgency. Tsahi Halevy carries himself with a mournful, in-over-his-head demeanor as Razi, an officer in Israel's secret service who's trying to prevent an impending suicide bombing in Jerusalem.

BETHLEHEM, West Bank -- Thousands of tourists joined Palestinians in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Monday for Christmas Eve in the biblical birth place of Jesus Christ. Men, women and children packed Manger Square to wait for the Catholic patriarch, Archbishop Fouad Twal, to arrive at the Church of the Nativity and mark the start of Christmas celebrations. Twal received guests at his office at the Latin Patriarchate in the Old City of Jerusalem until noon, then he led the annual procession to Bethlehem.

Rudolph Schindler is L.A.'s prototypical Modernist architect. His house on King's Road (the MAK Center now) is a public monument. Design magazines gush over Schindler restorations. Curbed LA , online, tracks the Schindler real estate market. And the great architect's fans follow his trail from the Hollyhock House (he supervised its creation for Frank Lloyd Wright) to the Bubeshko Apartments in Silver Lake to the Wolfe House on Catalina Island (before it was demolished), like pilgrims following the stations of the cross.

Bethlehem memory Re "O little town of tourist dollars," Column One, Dec. 20 The article says that although tourists flock to the West Bank city of Bethlehem, they don't spend much money there. My experience is different. In February I traveled with friends to Israel and added an optional excursion to Bethlehem. At the border, we were transferred from our Israeli tour bus to one owned and operated by Palestinians. Our group of 20 was then taken to a restaurant for an excellent lunch, followed by an extended visit to a Christian woodcarving store where many in the group bought items to take to our next stop, the Church of the Nativity.

I am disgusted by the decision of Times photographer Carolyn Cole to resupply and provide cover to armed combatants in Bethlehem (May 2-9). At what point did The Times make the transition from covering the news to becoming an active participant in it? The paper's coverage of the Bethlehem siege goes way past the paper's usual "advocacy" journalism to making it an active supporter of violence against Israel. David Bergman Culver City

Christmas festivities in Bethlehem, the annual highlight in this hilltop town where Jesus was born, are in danger of being sharply curtailed this year because of Arab-Israeli violence. Mayor Elias Freij said Sunday that he is under mounting pressure to cancel all non-religious functions surrounding the holiday to protest a wave of violence in Israel's occupied territories. Official Christmas functions are scheduled to begin Thursday morning in this town four miles south of Jerusalem.

Christians who travel to the birthplace of Jesus to celebrate the traditional Holy Week midnight Mass on Saturday will find Manger Square, outside the Church of the Nativity, bedecked with more Palestinian flags than Christmas trees. The Israeli army still occupies the West Bank, but the government has handed over certain areas of civilian life, including tourism, to the Palestinians.

I am writing to thank Don Heckman for his review of the reissue program of Bethlehem recordings from the 1950s ("The Blessings of Bethlehem," March 24). I hope that his message is received by the decision makers at the major recording companies, most of whom continue to ignore the rich heritage of jazz that wastes away in their vaults. Take the case of two extremely important Los Angeles jazz labels--Pacific Jazz, which was established by Roy Harte and Dick Bock in 1952, and Les Koenig's Contemporary Records, which was founded about the same time.

Israel's president promised the pope Thursday that the army will move outside Bethlehem during Christmas if there are no warnings of terrorist attacks, the Israeli Embassy said. Vatican officials, in talks with President Moshe Katsav, had urged Israel to allow "free access" during the holiday season in Bethlehem, where Israeli troops are patrolling Manger Square after occupying the town.

March 19, 2013 | By Maher Abukhater and Edmund Sanders, Los Angeles Times

RAMALLAH, West Bank - As Israelis roll out new red carpet and line streets with American flags for President Obama's visit, the U.S. leader faces a decidedly less enthusiastic reception in the West Bank, where the mood ranges from ho-hum to don't come. On Tuesday, dozens of protesters called on Obama to cancel visits to Ramallah and Bethlehem, complaining that the president had failed to do enough to bring them statehood. Posters of Obama that had been hung along the streets of Ramallah in recent days were defaced Tuesday with spray-painted Xs or, in one case, a swastika.

BETHLEHEM, West Bank -- Thousands of tourists joined Palestinians in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Monday for Christmas Eve in the biblical birth place of Jesus Christ. Men, women and children packed Manger Square to wait for the Catholic patriarch, Archbishop Fouad Twal, to arrive at the Church of the Nativity and mark the start of Christmas celebrations. Twal received guests at his office at the Latin Patriarchate in the Old City of Jerusalem until noon, then he led the annual procession to Bethlehem.

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Four recent cases of Palestinian women slain allegedly at the hand of relatives have prompted women and human rights groups to demand tougher laws against domestic violence and more stringent enforcement. Several female activists marched Thursday through the streets of Bethlehem in the West Bank demanding justice for women in this patriarchal and traditional society. They also demanded severe punishment for men who kill or batter a female family member. Women carried placards reading "No to murder, yes to life" and "Shame on us Palestinians who kill our women.

Over the last 23 years Sheldon Adelson has built Las Vegas Sands Corp. into the world's largest casino company — bigger than the next 10 competitors combined. He's done it without having a single one of his 40,000 workers in Las Vegas, Asia and Bethlehem, Pa., join a labor union. Now a band of security guards making $13 an hour may be on the verge of ending the world's 14th-richest person's winning streak. The National Labor Relations Board has ordered Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem to begin bargaining with its 130 security guards as a labor union.

Israeli archaeologists digging near the city of Jerusalem have discovered an ancient clay bulla, about 2,700 years old, bearing the name Bethlehem. The artifact is the only known ancient reference to the city of Jesus' birth found outside the Bible, experts said. The find shows not only that the city existed, but that it probably also had a thriving commercial trade. A bulla is a piece of clay used to make an impression in wax, sealing a document. The wax was intended to show the integrity of the document once it reached its final destination.

They just wanted her suffering to end. So they painted her nails. It didn't work. "Let's change her earrings," her father suggested softly and kindly. They did; it didn't work either. "Let's get Noel," her friend suggested. So the family, with the permission of doctors and nurses at Lehigh Valley Hospital, brought her pet dachshund to the intensive care unit. Just like at home in Bethlehem Township, Noel jumped into her bed and curled up at the ankles she could not feel.

Bethlehem is a Palestinian town under Israeli occupation, and its travails have only been compounded by the Persian Gulf War. For 19 years, Mayor Elias Freij has tried to ensure a pleasant stay for pilgrims and TOURISTS IN THE TOWN WHERE CHRIST WAS BORN. He has hope that the Gulf crisis may eventually bring a resolution to the plight of the Palestinians. But for now, he says, Palestinians are worse off than ever, thanks to the war and the cessation of tourism.

Donald H. Trautlein will step aside March 1 as chief executive of Bethlehem Steel Corp., the nation's third-largest steel producer. President Walter F. Williams will assume the chief executive duties, Trautlein said Monday. Trautlein, 59, said he has made no decision about retirement. "I have completed nearly six years as chairman and have put into place many of the plans and programs that I had hoped to establish. It seems appropriate, therefore, to have Mr.

A great city for any season I enjoyed the story about Bethlehem, Pa. [" ' Christmas City' Filled With Holiday Tradition," by Karl Zimmermann, Dec. 25]. It's an amazing place any time, and especially at this time of year. I live near there and know the Historic Bethlehem area well both at Christmas and at other seasons of the year. The Moravians have a marvelous, continuing tradition. Donald S. Heintzelman Zionsville, Pa. His own trip globetrotting I howled with glee when I read David Lamb's Dec. 18 story, "A Gift of the World.

Bethlehem memory Re "O little town of tourist dollars," Column One, Dec. 20 The article says that although tourists flock to the West Bank city of Bethlehem, they don't spend much money there. My experience is different. In February I traveled with friends to Israel and added an optional excursion to Bethlehem. At the border, we were transferred from our Israeli tour bus to one owned and operated by Palestinians. Our group of 20 was then taken to a restaurant for an excellent lunch, followed by an extended visit to a Christian woodcarving store where many in the group bought items to take to our next stop, the Church of the Nativity.